Neighborhood politics can be deciding factor for homebuyers. You can now check your area.
MIAMI - When house hunting, most people ask about price, size, amenities, schools and shopping. But what about the political leanings of their future neighbors? For some, that could be a deal breaker.
And it wouldn't have been possible without directly asking them who they voted for or seeing signs on their front yards — until now.
Tech startup Oyssey is launching a service for that information block-by-block starting this month in South Florida and New York City.
CEO Huw Nierenberg, a former Boston real estate agent, told CBS News Miami political data is based on a range of publicly accessible information, including election results and campaign contributions.
"We are extremely confident about the accuracy," he said. Nierenberg said buyers can access "never before available" data and agents can negotiate higher commissions.
Homebuyers can use Oyssey for free after receiving an invitation from their agent. The company offers a monthly subscription service for $59 per month.
Neighborhood politics, a priority for homebuyers
Data shows that political party affiliation is something that interests many future homeowners.
In a poll by Michael Smerconish on his Sirius/Xm show, people were asked: "When choosing a place to live, would you consider a community's political leanings as seriously as you do taxes, safety, and school quality?"
Of the 30,290 votes, 55.21% said "yes" and 44.79% said "no."
Nearly 20% of people said they've had a disagreement with their neighbors over politics, according to a recent survey by Redfin. Around 30% of respondents said they regularly talked about politics with their neighbors.
People generally live in counties that are predominantly Republican or Democrat.
David Wasserman, senior editor and elections editor at The Cook Political Report, nonpartisan political analysis organization, reported that 80.2% of counties favor a particular party by 20 percentage points or more.
Oyssey can drill down licensable commercial data, including addresses associated with dog ownership. The company's website lets buyers search for homes as well as a tool that streamlines contract negotiations.
"Buyers are signing multiple exclusives with different agents and the whole industry is a mess right now," Nierenberg said. "It's about time buyers have control of how their own contracts work, and that can mean more commission opportunities for savvy agents."
Shakeup in the real estate industry
In a recent settlement of a class action lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors, buyers are now required to sign contracts with agents to tour homes and negotiate commission payments.
"We're raising our seed round to take the industry by storm and to replace Zillow, who, in our opinion, has missed every opportunity to provide real value for buyers,"
Zillow is a real estate marketplace that provides information and services for buying, selling, renting and financing homes.
Buyers are increasingly unhappy with the homes they are buying, with 72% in 2022 and then 93% in 2023 having regrets, according to a Clever study.
Real estate sales data
In 2023, 4.09 million existing homes were sold, according to Housingwire.
In 2021, 90% of homes were sold with the assistance of a real estate agent, while only 7% were sold by the owner, according to the National Association of Realtors.
The real estate industry is a highly competitive business with approximately 1.6 million agents in the U.S., according to NAR.
Despite changes in the business, The most sought-after dream job in Florida is realtor, boasting an average of 3,706 monthly Google searches, according to BeamJobs. In second place is travel agent, with an impressive average of 1,958 monthly searches